Taking Back Ba Sing Se
by FearlessFencer
Summary: The Avatar is gone and the great wall and city of Ba Sing Se has fallen. But what about a few spirited teens that are left? Will they fight for their home or be overrun by the Fire Nation.
1. Chapter 1

-While the Avatar and his friends were planning an Invasion of the Fire Nation, another group of rebels were starting an Extermination of the red-armored soldiers.

In the window of a ramshackle hut built right into the side of the once-great wall of Be Sing Se, a light flickered twice then a shadowy profile blocked the flame. Another, smaller figure could just barely be seen in the light that was left.

"Do ya think this'll actually work, Ly?" Whispered the small figure, fear in his voice and uncertainty in his bespectacled eyes.

"It will work," replied the tall figure fiercely. " It has to." Finally he blew out the signal light and they where bathed in total darkness. Ly looked out the window, knowing(but not seeing) that his rebel friends where hiding out there somewhere. He looked out the window a second longer, at the lowest part of Be Sing Se, at his home.

The candle had been lit. Tonight they would take back Ba Sing Se.

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Just the beginning of a story I might continue. What do you think so far? I know it's short but if I added anymore it would give away a lot.


	2. Chapter 2

-1The first few chapters will have background stuff about the characters, but I will try to make them as short as possible. Ly is 16 in the present and later memories and 6 in the earlier ones.

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He would meet up with everyone and go over the plan with them, just as he had done in his head a million times. Quickly, in the shadows of the many houses, he made his way to a store with half it's roof missing, the old clubhouse. Now it was the meeting place for rebels. Instead of going through the door, Ly shimmied up a concealed ladder to where the wood had rotted the roof.

Moonlight poured in through the hole, illuminating a few things still left in the store. Inside, he rapped twice on the wooden counter, the signal to open the secret door for the back room. But he didn't need too. Waer had already told the rebels he was coming.

The moment he walked in all eyes turned to him, nervous, hopeful. Lysander, knew they expected _him_ to lead them to victory. He would get back their city. The weight of it all settled on his shoulders as it had before, only even heavier. Doubt screamed from the back of his mind. He was only a thief who could sneak into the upper rings, one who liked ancient stories. He didn't even know how to fight, save what he learned on the streets and over the last few days. How could he lead something like this?

_---_

_He had been trying to steal an apple, when her gnarled hand closed around his wrist. She made a deal with him, if he carried her bags she wouldn't turn him in. Not like he had much of a choice, her fingers where like the vice of a crabmonkey's! He had noticed the weird way she walked, like it hurt when the soles of her shoes hit the ground._

_Eventually she led him to a hut built right into the side of the great wall. There she muttered angrily about her joints and opened the door. The woman didn't look totally evil, but she didn't look like an innocent grandma look either. Her grey hair was in a loose bun on the top of her head, and her chin jutted out when she was angry or stubborn. There was a strange sort of knowing in her eyes, and Ly thought maybe there had once been strength in her small, short frame. _

_Inside she made him put away everything and clean until she was asleep. He felt like a slave and was enraged this lady refused to acknowledge him, he started going toward the door. No way would he listen to that old hag anymore._

"_What's your name, kid?" Ly jumped. He didn't know she was awake. It was kind magical, her sitting in that old rocking chair, with only one candle lit. All the walls of the room where covered with papers, books and other odd things. In the middle was a small rug, depicting a worn story. He thought about not answering her, but his curiosity got the better of him._

"_Lysander," He said. "Now tell me yours." he tried to sound brave, but his voice quavered, making the old woman chuckle._

"_Ying," she said, giving him a crooked grin. She caught him looking at the rug and her eyes clouded over._

"_Would you like to hear a story, Lysander?"_

_Usually Ly would stick his nose in the air and say stories where for babies, but none of the other street kids were around…_

"_Okay," he said simply, plopping down on the rug. It was actually kind of comfy. _

_He listened, captivated, to her story about a city that was bathed in fire and conquered by it as the sun rose. Her description of the leader, of the Fire Lord, sent shivers down his spine. No one ever talked about this, he had never heard anyone telling stories of a hundred years ago. She told him of the first city to fall, and how the city sent children too young to fight to get help._

" _The children had to run across the desert to Ba Sing Se, to beg for help and alert the great city. The children ran as fast as they could, even after the bottom of their shoes were gone and their feet were rubbed raw. And when they got there, the King of Ba Sing Se declared them liars, refused to believe the proof before his eyes."_

"_What happened to the city? And the people? Did the kids ever reach help?" Ly asked, his eyes wide._

" _The people of the city became rules by the Fire Nation and the children sent for help were trapped in Ba Sing Se. Soon they grew too old to fight, and eventually there was no one left that remembered the city being anything other then a Fire Nation colony."_

_He looked so worried, so somber, Ying thought it was certainly a strange look for a six-year-old._

_She told him another, brighter story so that his eyes drooped and soon he was fast asleep on the rug. He thought he saw Ying covering him with a blanket and as she walked away, he noticed her feet._

_When he asked her about it in the morning she called him a silly little fool, that he was probably still dreaming._

"_Don't you have anything better to do? Get out of my sight, you little thief," she stated, irate but not unkind._

_She was right, he was a little thief. He had this weird kind of logic, this own idea about stealing. It was wrong to steal just to steal and waste or to hoard it. Everyone in these walls belonged to this same city, to this same earth, so if he stole something for someone who needed it, it was okay. This is what he told himself every time he stole extra food for Ying._

_As Lysander grew older the more he began to explore the city around him and ponder about the world so many of Ying's stories took place in. It was like a game, memorizing streets and the places they took him. And the more he began to realize how dangerous it was to talk like she talked._

_At first he couldn't get why he was so concerned about that cranky old lady, but deep down he knew she was the closest thing he had ever had to a family. _

_One day he suggested she stay home and Ying rounded on him, her eyes dangerous. Usually Ly voiced his opinions loudly, too. Sometimes you could never get him to shut up. But with Ying staring at him like that, he was six years old again._

"_Well the Dai Lee have been patrolling the lower rings more often, so I, uh, thought-" _

"_Trying to keep me quiet, eh?" Her gaze made him wriggle and squirm. " To bad,Ly, I'll say what I want," Suddenly her anger was replaced with a cloudy, serious face. "Soon it won't matter anymore. They will come, despite what the Earth King and Dai Lee may think. And then they will silence us all."_

_Something about her voice, the way she said it, sent shivers down Ly's spine. He had a sickening feeling Ying was right. Even though all the talk was about the Avatar and how he was in the city, Ly knew good things never lasted forever. He was right, for over the next few days his life was turned upside down. _

_The Fire Nation drill had breached the wall of Ba Sing Se. Ly knew they hadn't gotten soldiers in yet, but they would soon. He was at the clubhouse with Adine, hoping the noise wouldn't permanently damage her other ear. Celebration, and cheering was heard through all the rings. Out in the streets Ly took Adine by the hand and was twirling her, dancing joyously. The Drill had been stopped!_

_That was when he saw them._

_Clad in green samurai outfits of the island of Kyoshi, with striking face paint. But what he noticed was their eyes. Golden and cold. Something was wrong. He stayed at the clubhouse all-night with his friends and was woken in n the morning by Trystan(who was very strong)shaking him roughly._

"_Ly, wake up. They got 'er. The Dai Lee got Ying! The bloody Fire Nation is everywhere! And more are coming through the Wall!" _

"_Go to the back room, keep Adine safe for me, Trystan. Please."_

_He was up and running, pushing his way through the silent mass of people watching the procession of the Fire Nation. A few Fire Nation soldiers were marching down the main street of Ba Sing Se, banners waving proudly. He had to find Ying quickly, and not draw attention to himself. He slipped along the shadows of the buildings, trying to match his pace with the invading soldiers, trying to find Ying. There! She was rock-cuffed by the Dai Lee, they where taking her toward the Middle Wall. _

_Now he was the Agents shadow, waiting for a diversion so he could get Ying. He got one._

_Apparently someone very important was meeting the General and the first troops at the entrance to the Middle Ring,. Ly couldn't tell who it was exactly but the General was falling all over himself for her. She looked bored, uninterested and disgusted with being in such a low place, when she had the whole city, though she did hate the color green. Soon she would be rid of this place and these infernal people. And out of this horrible dress._

_Ly noticed a Dai Lee was also standing close the Kyoshi warrior, whispering in her ear. He tensed when he realized she was the princess of the Fire Nation._

"_Long Feng is locked up and ready to be moved to the Fire Nation prison, Majesty." _

_While everyone's eyes where on the cold girl, Ly snuck up right behind the Dai Lee holding Ying, the choked him with the strings of his own triangular hat._

"_Let her go," he commanded fiercely, but to his dismay the Agent only waved his hands and soon alerted the other Dai Lee. Green and red started encircling him, shouting hoarse commands. He ingored them, working faster to find an escape route. Ly jumped, hearing Ying's forceful old voice._

"_If you are as good a thief as you boast, then you will save me after you have stolen back this city."_

_Shocked, Ly stopped trying to get the rock cuffs off and just stared, openmouthed._

"_Well shut your trap and _go_!" And will that, she kicked open a wooden drainage cover and kicked him rather unceremoniously into it. He hit the hard, wet ground and thought briefly maybe he would drown in this shallow water. But he got up and groaned, finding his way to the surface through another drain hole. Hiding in the shadows, but infuriated, he mulled over everything in his head on the way to the clubhouse._

_How could he have just left her?! He was a failure! And what did she mean steal back the city? When she had told him that, the story of the fallen Earth Kingdom city had popped into his mind. How could he save a city when he couldn't even save one old woman? At the clubhouse he told Waer, Trystan and Adine what had happened. Sitting there with his head in his hands, expecting to hear criticism. He heard something else instead, Adine's soft voice, her far away eyes focused for once.._

"_Rebelling against the Fire Nation with limited resources and people is a horrible idea. But if we are stealing back the city, it will be easy."_

Now he thought of the first time he had seen the great wall, how it filled him with wonder, the same way Ying's stories did. He looked over at Adine, sitting peacefully at the table in this secret room, as clam and as bright as she always was. He glanced at Waer on his right, who gave him a nervous looking smile, even more jumpy then normal. Trystan was leaning against a nearby wall, grinning cheekily, his eyes full of a dangerous fire. Lysander remembered the bright look on Ying's face when he had stolen shoes from the Middle Ring for her, what she said to him before she was taken away. A strange sort of energy flowed through him. He cleared his throat, ready to announce the plan to the other 20 or so rebels.

He would steal back the city.


	3. Chapter 3

-1---Not so sure about the exotic zoo(where it is)or the floor plan of the castle. Making it up as I go. Adine is 16ish, and kinda a main character, so there's some stuff to write about her.

Adine was one of the four who would be at the Earth Kings private zoo of exotic animals, creating a fuss or stirring up the animals to get a small group of Fire Navy soldiers to come investigate.

Soldier by soldier, they would thin out the Fire Nation troops in the castle. Then they would steal it back. Other groups were also instructed to thin the troops, one group was going to be the obvious attack- the strongest seeming fighters attacking some guard head on, while other groups circling around or going behind to thin out other places.

Adine remembered Ly had been a little surprised at her insistence she should join a party and help attack. It was understandable, since she usually was a peacefully person. But she wanted to be there, beside Ly, when he took back the city from right under the nose of the fat, pompous Fire Nation General.

Adine had been a refugee many years ago and like a refugees, she had found a home, a family here in Ba Sing Se. Even when the outside world had been so cruel. Adine thought of the time she had first met Ly, how he had covered her ears from the noisy yells and had taken her to a quiet place, a large fragrant garden. Then she had so much wanted someone to trust and Ly's curly brown hair and bright amber eyes were perfect.

'_I know a quiet place we can go. You'll like it,' he mouthed, taking her hand and leading her through a maze of streets a people. Away from that shrieking voice that was nothing like a mother should sound. Away from that shack of a house with the leaky room and dreary cloring._

_It had been like magic, bursting, blooming before her very eyes. Soft pastel colors of all shapes and sizes surrounded her, a few petal lazily floating in the breeze. She was in the gardens of the Middle Ring. For a while she couldn't, and didn't, speak. Flowers where so lovely, they didn't need to speak to be wonderful, for everyone bent down to smell and admire them._

_Ly had been so pleased she liked the gardens, so full of boyish pride. But his eyes also showed with concern. Of course Ying yelled at him, always seeming irate. Ly knew she huffed and puffed when she was pleased. Her yelling was covering up her happiness. But the woman's voice as she was yelling at this girl was filled with harsh emotions, like hate. He had only been passing by, but people in the Upper Ring probably heard the woman screaming. At first he had winced and covered his ears, then noticed the girl beside him, how she was reacting to this torrent of sound._

_She had looked so hopeless, so full of sorrow. She wasn't even covering her ears to lessen the sound. Her eyes, so far away, were the reason Ly impulsively wanted to help her. He just felt this need to protect her. So he had taken her here._

"_I'm Ly, what's your name?" He asked as they both sat down among the tall grass, only visible if you looked closely. Her pretty light brown eyes were flecked with gold and she had that far away look again. She had wavy, shoulder-length deep brown hair, which hadn't changed much over the years._

"_Adine. I'm Adine." Her voice was soft as if she was afraid of speaking too loudly._

"_That's a pretty name," he said, then was silent. _

_That was the thing about Ly, he didn't need to fill the silence with pointless sound. For some reason it made Adine want to tell him everything, more then she had told anyone else. She told him how she was deaf in her left ear, how her mother and father had loved each other once but then didn't and came here from their old home, far away from Ba Sing Se._

_Adine almost told him why her mother was so mad, why her parents hated her so much. But she couldn't, she couldn't tell this kind, knowing face about her father. Not even he would except her, understand her then. No one could know her father was a Fire Nation soldier._

_He hadn't been an important one, just an average soldier who had fallen in love with a captured Earth Kingdom servant girl, who had fled once she learned she was pregnant. Adine guessed she had always regretted leaving, and loving a cruel man. She didn't know but whatever it was made her mother so angry one day pots and pans flew everywhere, knocking Adine in the left ear. She had lost her hearing that way._

_As the years passed and she grew older with Ly and her adoptive brothers, the more she wanted to tell him, because she trusted him entirely. But now everything was complicated and she didn't want to worry_

_Ly with silly things._

Now she was slinking through the shadows, an old University teacher, his two students and a farmer behind her. The guard was higher in the Middle Ring and they where almost spotted when one of the students stubbed his toe and began to swear loudly. But they made it to the end of the Middle Ring in one piece, and through the passageway that would take them to the special storage room where all the food for the King's exotic zoo was kept. Right above it was the many rooms and areas that held the animals. Adine had secretly hoped to meet some Fire Nation soldiers, but they were lucky. After all, no one was expected to guard the animals.

She guessed it was the Fire Nation blood in her veins that made her want to rebel so much. It always clashed with her far off, daydreaming personality. Not that she would ever wish to live in the Fire Nation or be a part of there society. She belonged her, she knew. And that was the reason she didn't want to tell anyone of her father. What if they thought she was like them? She knew she wouldn't be able to live if Ly looked at her with the same scorn her mother always did. She should have been focusing but she was so intent on what she would do when they got back their home, which they would, she didn't realize the clank of heavy armor in the distance.

The old teacher, thank goodness, was on top of things. He bended soft rocks to make a gag and blindfold, then had rocks chain the soldier to the wall, walking more quickly then Adine ever thought possible of a man his age. They sped up and entered the gigantic chamber with high, arched ceilings, full of rare animals, taking positions in the darkest shadows. Adine was hiding behind a big cage with a sad looking, somewhat freakish golden beast that must have been a lion.

"I promise soon you will be free," she whispered to it, also promising to herself that when she freed the lion, she would tell Ly everything.


End file.
